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Meeting was called to order by Peter Griffin at 7:10 PM at the Windham Library.

 Attendees:

* President

·            Peter Griffin opened the meeting by introducing Curt Potter as a new member.

·            The May 19 meeting minutes were reviewed and accepted as written.

·            George gave a brief legislative update as follows: 

Ø      The $3.5 million that had been earmarked for the commuter rail extension to Nashua (from the Capital Budget) has been removed.  The House voted to bond the money, but the Senate voted it out.

Ø      There is currently nothing in the General Fund that dedicates money towards rail initiatives.

Ø      He met with Carol Murray (NHDOT Commissioner) and Wallace Stickney (Highway Transportation) to discuss rail.

Ø      He speculated that there needs to be an active rail division within the NHDOT that can oversee the development of rail initiatives.

Ø      George and his wife Phyllis will be traveling to California for a national legislative transportation meeting.

Ø      He and Peter also held a meeting with Keith Herman (Legislative Liaison to Governor Benson).  The governor supports rail in theory, but has nothing specific on his agenda.

·            Peter gave an update regarding outreach by NHRRA.  We have made presentations recently to groups such as Rotary Clubs and the NH Board of Realtors.  We have also been regularly attending task force and public meetings for commuter rail initiatives in Nashua and Portsmouth .

·            There was a meeting of the Eastern Route (Hampton Branch) Task Force on Thursday, June 12 at 7 PM at the Portsmouth City Hall .  Despite sparse attendance, there was positive support for the project per Scott Bogle of the Rockingham Planning Commission.  Two state senators, Burt Cohen and Chuck Morse from Salem are members of the task force and were present.  According to Mr. Bogle, the project could cost anywhere between $64 million and $98 million and could begin anywhere between 10 and 50 years. He stated that a number of the projects on the “New Starts list” would likely drop out. This could possibly reduce the time to the 20-25 year time frame. As a comparison the current Route 93 widening from its conception in the late 1980’s to its expected completion in about 2014 will be almost 30 years. 

 ·            Gus recommended that New Hampshire invite the town fathers (or equivalent) from Haverhill , MA to speak and bring ideas based upon their successes.  There are probably ten passenger trains in and out of Haverhill on any particular evening as this is currently the terminus of commuter service.

 ·            Peter updated the progress of the draft study of the Boston-Montreal High Speed Rail corridor.  Phase I shows good ridership potentials and Phase II will be investigating the reestablishment of freight service, the tourism and other economic development opportunities. The phase two study is expected to begin in late fall

 ·            John brought forth a news article that quoted Charlie Miller (Program Manager for the Vermont Agency for Transportation), which described efforts that are underway for Boston-Montreal.  John also mentioned that the property deed associated with the M&L states that a 30’ Right of Way must be maintained for potential future rail use.  This Right of Way has been encroached upon in several areas, such as the hotel access behind Poor Boys in Londonderry .

 ·            Curt gave an update on the Flying Yankee currently being refurbished at the Claremont & Concord facility.  There is an anticipated two-year time frame before the restoration is complete and at that time it should be strongly pursued as a public relations tool to draw people to the appreciation of rail travel.

 ·            Gus recommended that the group reestablish membership cards for current members.  He has supplied 500 cards in the past, which could easily be filled out with members’ information and mailed.  Also, we should gather all membership information again to update our records including current e-mail addresses.

·            George stated that Keith Herman will not be appointing anyone to the proposed Transportation Funding Committee until the end of July.  This task force will investigate funding sources for transportation in general.  Also, TEA-3 is the latest reauthorization of TEA-21 and it was to be voted on in 2003.  This vote is not likely going to happen now until January of 2004.

·            Peter reiterated that the organization is presently compiling a questionnaire for distribution to the membership.  This could give those who are not regularly attending monthly meetings an opportunity to give their opinion on what NHRRA should be focusing its attention on.

·            George reiterated that a letter from NHRRA be drafted to solicit funds from large companies who could potentially benefit from rail freight service (i.e. Irving Oil’s transportation department and any other potential freight generators adjacent to active or inactive rail corridors) to help meet the financial needs of this organization.

 ·            There will be no regular monthly meeting in July.  The August meeting will be held on the 25^th at either the Ashland Station or in Exeter .  A meeting notice will be provided prior to the meeting.

Meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM .